Could this work?

[Ltislander]

If I put a worker in another test tube locked off by cotton taped to a tube with a queen in it over a few days/weeks will it gain her scent and think it’s part of the colony? So then I can put it into the queens tube so it’ll boost her by a bunch?

[AntsDakota]

If I put a worker in another test tube locked off by cotton taped to a tube with a queen in it over a few days/weeks will it gain her scent and think it’s part of the colony? So then I can put it into the queens tube so it’ll boost her by a bunch?

It could. I would try it. You could even try with a whole group of workers. Just make sure they're the same species.

[TheRealAntMan]

I've seen lots of people try this and fail.

[AntsDakota]

Sometimes I just plain mix them together and most of the time it works.

[Ltislander]

Could I douse them in vinager to get rid of the pharamons?

[CampoKing]

Ant communication with smell is still a mystery in science, but my understanding is that ant colony smell is *complicated*.

There are smells the workers inherit genetically just by being daughters of their queen, followed by smells that are picked up by the queen herself & the other workers.

It really shouldn't be possible to mix ants from other colonies if that species does not normally mix together.
Here's a science article describing the "smell system" of my main specialty, the Carpenter ant:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00299947

But hey, you could prove us wrong That same article explains that pupae of another Queen could be adopted by other colonies, but mature workers are much more difficult.

[AntsDakota]

I've tried vinegar and it doesn't work.

[Hunter36o]

This is only of my favourite topic (in general not on the forum)
Tbh this almost belongs in the debate section because so many user on here alone are at odds of testing this.
One thing I will disagree with is multiple workers because if this goes south and it is a strong change it will. You want the queen to overthrow the worker not a group of workers attacking and killing the queen so when doing test like these always make sure in the worst case the queen will always come out on top.

Now that said. You this for science not just for your own curiosity. That way (in my personal opinion) it's not so much crule over observational study, so when you do this take notes. Document everything! And when it comes to the moment of truth make sure you have 2 FREE hours on your hand and you must sit with this the whole time recording and taking notes. That way wether or not it is successful you will have a fully documented report that can and may even contribute to the overall knowledge of this.

I noticed it is easy for people, even here to forget that in comparison to the ants world we actually know nothing when compared to honey bees and such. If you do not continually document, as far as I am concerned this dangours attempt if nearly sport. Do not be that guy or girl.